“Mr. Orden,” he enjoined, “sit where you are. Remember I have the other tube in my left hand.”
“You infernal scoundrel!” Julian exclaimed.
“Mr. Bright,” Fenn asserted, “is nothing of the sort. Neither am I. We are both honest men faced with a colossal situation. There is nothing personal in our treatment of you. We have no enmity towards you. You are simply a person who has committed a theft.”
“What puzzles me,” Julian muttered, “is what you expect I am going to do about you, if ever I do escape from your clutches.”
“If you do escape,” Fenn said quietly, “you will view the matter differently. You will find, as a matter of fact, that you are powerless to do anything. You will find a new law and a new order prevailing.”
“You misjudge us,” Fenn continued. “Both Bright and I are patriotic Englishmen. We are engaged at the present moment in a desperate effort to save our country. You are the man who stands in the way.”
“I never thought,” said Julian, “that I should smile in this place, but you are beginning to amuse me. Why not be more explicit? Why not prove what you say? I might become amenable. I suppose your way of saving the country is to hand it over to the Germans, eh?”
“Our way of saving the country,” Fenn declared, “is to establish peace.”
“I know a little about you, Mr. Fenn,” he said. “I know the sort of peace you would establish, the sort of peace any man would propose who conducts a secret correspondence with Germany.”
Fenn, who had lifted his mask for a moment, slowly rearranged it.
“Mr. Orden,” he said, “we are not going to waste words upon you. You are hopelessly and intolerably prejudiced. Will you tell us where you have concealed the packet you intercepted?”
“Aren’t you almost tired of asking me that question? I’m tired of hearing it,” Julian replied. “I will not.”
“Will you let me try to prove to you,” Fenn begged, “that by the retention of that packet you are doing your country an evil service?”
“If you talked till doomsday,” Julian assured him, “I should not believe a word you said.”
“In that case,” Fenn began slowly, with an evil glitter in his eyes!!!!!
“Well, for heaven’s sake finish the thing this time!” Julian interrupted. “I’m sick of playing the laboratory rabbit for you. If you are out for murder, finish the job and have done with it.”